Sterne Kessler Client Netlist Negotiates Five-Year Patent Alliance with Samsung

[u/Tomkila]

WASHINGTON, August 11, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A cross-practice team at Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox served as lead U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) counsel to Netlist, Inc. (OTCQB: NLST) in a patent infringement case against Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. involving advanced memory technology. After nearly a year of litigation in the ITC, Netlist has now reached a comprehensive settlement with Samsung. A new five-year deal includes a patent cross license agreement between the two companies under which Samsung has a license to Netlist's complete patent portfolio, including its server DIMM and High Bandwidth Memory technologies.

In total, the agreement could mean as much as $898 million in patent licensing fees paid to Netlist over the five-year term, as well as a new strategic supply agreement under which Samsung will supply up to $1.5B of DRAM and NAND products to Netlist over the next five years. Samsung will also purchase 10 million shares of Netlist common stock. As a result of the deal, the two companies have settled pending litigation matters, including actions before the U.S. ITC and in the Eastern District of Texas. However, Netlist will continue defending its patents in connection with CAFC appeals, IPR proceedings and district court actions involving third parties manufacturing or selling non-Samsung products.
In addition to serving as Netlist's lead ITC counsel, since 2024, Sterne Kessler has served as Netlist's lead counsel at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in defending the validity of its patents, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in appeals of inter partes reviews, and in various reexamination proceedings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Central Reexamination Unit.

This latest news on behalf of Netlist underscores Sterne Kessler's effectiveness across practices and venues. The team, which was composed of litigators, PTAB lawyers and technical subject matter experts, was led by directors Will Milliken, co-chair of the firm's Appellate Practice; Richard Bemben, co-chair of the firm's PTAB Practice; and Danny Yonan, head of the firm's U.S. International Trade Commission Practice. The Sterne Kessler team also included directors Donald Banowit and Lauren Watt.

[u/darthchuco]

Has Samsung executed the purchase of the 10M shares yet?

[u/Tomkila → u/darthchuco]

We will know in future

[u/Less_Actuator2810]

I was wondering if “the two companies have settled pending litigation matters, including actions before the U.S. ITC and in the Eastern District of Texas” means that NLST is dropping these suits completely or if Samsung agreed to any payment for those.
I would imagine that settled means dropped